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Kaspersky To Close Washington Office But Expand Non-State Sales (bloomberg.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: A Russian software-maker, whose products are banned for use in federal information systems by the U.S. government, is seeking to remain in the North American market and prove its products have no hidden capabilities. Kaspersky Lab Inc. will close its Washington D.C. office that was selling to the government and will keep working with non-federal customers in the U.S. via its remaining offices in the country, vice-president Anton Shingarev said in an interview in Moscow. The company also committed in October to open its product's source code to an independent third-party review and plans to open new offices in Chicago, Los Angeles and Toronto next year. "This allows independent experts to verify that our software has no hidden functionality, that it doesn't send your files to third parties, doesn't spy on you and fully complies with the end-user agreement," Shingarev said. The U.S. banned government use of Kaspersky software in September, citing founder Eugene Kaspersky's alleged ties to Russian intelligence and the possibility its products could function as "malicious actors" to compromise federal information systems. The move caused concern about the company's products in other markets, including the U.K.
Do you have evidence Putin killed anyone?
The way I see it he doesn't really have motive. All his opposition is completely impotent, they've been "exposing him" for years to zero effect.
It is no secret that his opposition is being funded by various western "democracy spreading" agencies. They keep pouring in money for years, to no effect whatsoever. It is those agencies that have much stronger motive to kill off Putin opposition - because the only way to make something out of their investment so that it is not a complete waste is to eliminate those failures, if just to spin a "they were Putin's opposition, Putin killed them" media BS.
Now, unlike you I don't claim anything for certain. Because the truth is I don't know. I am just reasoning. It could be Putin, it could be his comrades unbeknownst to Putin, it could be average dimwitted patriots or it could be the CIA and co.
What I know is out of that list, it is the latter that have the most motive and most benefit. Putin's political position is rock solid, and the west is furious about it, they pour money into anyone who claims to be able to weaken it, and they are furious when such investments end up achieving nothing. And Putin is on the opposite side of the spectrum, "his victims" were no actual threat to him, he had no interest in killing them, which would only incriminate him". Furthermore, as a former intelligence operative, I am sure Putin could have come up with far more inconspicuous ways to deal with inconvenient individuals rather than simply assassinating them.
You make it sound like there are only two choices: compromise your machine for the Americans or the Russians. Um, how about neither! Plus it's the "it's okay to have my machine compromised" attitude that seems so shilly (if that's a thing).